The Ham Nomads

5 Nov 2014. <GB-ENG> Milton Keynes, Bucks —

Guy Fawkes Night — not that we're planning anything for it. But here in the UK fireworks are sold freely over the counter, and for the past few nights we have been listening to people 'practising' for tonight.

We needed to shop, and we weren't far from Milton Keynes, where we've been before and know the shops, so we went in there for Morrison's and the nearby McDonalds. While at Macca's, we checked out the opening hours for Woburn Abbey, but it's now shut down for the winter. There's another site nearby, which will be worth a full day's effort — Stowe House, which was saved from a dismal end in 1923 when the house — which is magnificent, but won't be open to the public tomorrow — was taken over to become a rather exclusive private school, and the grounds were given to the National Trust in 1990.

Another 'wow' sunset!

So we left Milton Keynes and drove out past Buckingham (where Stowe House is) on the A421 and out to the A43 near Brackley, intending to loop back in the A422 towards Buckingham and a layby we had already found — but we found an absolute beauty set back off the A43, so there we spent the night, listening to the distant but unmistakable sounds of fireworks!

Distance driven — today, 47 miles ( 75 km ); to date, 9,620 miles ( 15,482 km )